A delicate creature
by FreeKyandi
Summary: When Sasuke's world is shaken to the core, will a complete stranger be able to help him trust again? ItaSasu
1. Chapter 1

Hey everyone! I'm back with a new story ^_^

Even though this is ItaSasu I won't give an incest-warning because in this story they are not brothers. Everything else is like in the series though.

Rating is just to be safe, I don't know if there's going to be a lemon or anything like that yet (I've never written one, but there's a first time for everything right?)

So enough talk for now, here is part 1!

-.-.-.-.-

"Nii-san, will you come practice with me outside?" a little 5 year old boy with dark blue hair asked and gave his brother his most adorable look, looking up to him with big puppy eyes and smiling expectantly.

"I don't know Sasuke, I thing dinner is almost ready..." the addressed hesitated but when he saw his brother's face he couldn't help but to give in. "...alright let's ask Mum if we still have some time left."

Sasuke's smile grew even further. "Yay!" he yelled, throwing up his arms in joy.

The two of them walked into the kitchen and when their mother told them that they could and she would call them when dinner was ready, Sasuke ran outside laughing, closely followed by his brother trying to keep up with him. Their mother watched them smiling gently. Her two sons were the only ones she had left since her husband had died mysteriously during a mission. No one had been able to understand how the powerful and respected Tsuyoshi Ougi could have died in battle, since he was the strongest man in the whole village and even if he ever felt he couldn't win he would be smart enough to withdraw instead of fighting in a senseless battle. And yet 3 years ago when Miyoko Ougi heard a knocking on her door, she opened it to find the elder of the village standing in her frontyard, accompanied by 2 Jonin, all of them with a sad expression on his face.

It was still hard for Miyoko to think back to that day, how they had told her that her husband had been killed in battle. But she had tried to be strong for her two sons. Sasuke was only 2 by then so he hadn't been able to understand completely what was going on, but Yasuo was already 14 years old, so she had tried her best to help him get over the death of his father. Unfortunately she couldn't rely on the other villagers help, as they were very conservative. Miyoko came from a far distant country and the other people only accepted her because she had married Tsuyoshi, who was the villages most glorious Shinobi, but still she felt that they mistrusted her.

The only person that still cared for them was Takeru Ougi, Tsuyoshi's older brother. He helped them whenever they needed financial help and came over almost everyday to visit his nephews. He was almost like a second father to them, especially to Sasuke, who couldn't remember his real father very well.

Suddenly Miyoko's thoughts were interrupted by a sizzling sound. She looked around to see the water on the stove boiling. 'I should rather focus on not burning down the house than thinking back to that terrible day...' she thought and continued to prepare dinner.

-.-.-.-.-

Meanwhile Sasuke and Yasuo had reached a clearing in the forest near their house. Even though Sasuke didn't have own memories of his father Yasuo would often tell him how strong and brave he had been and so the wish to become as good of a shinobi as his father had been, grew in Sasuke's heart. To make this wish come true he often asked his brother, who was already a Chunin himself, for help with his training.

"Well then, try to come at me, Otouto." Yasuo grinned and positioned himself.

Sasuke didn't need to be told twice. He ran towards his brother and tried to hit him, but Yasuo countered his attack by crossing his arms in front of his face. Sasuke jumped back, drew a kunai and aimed it at the older one, but Yasuo simply dodged it.

"Stop messing around! If you're not serious about this we may as well stop." Yasuo said with a serious expression on his face.

'Alright then...' Sasuke thought and activated his special ability.

-.-.-.-.-

Miyoko's thoughts had started to wander off again when a knock on the front door brought her back to reality. She could already guess who it was and when she opened the door her assumption was confirmed.

"Hello Takeru, come on in. Dinner is almost ready, do you want to eat with us?" Miyoko asked smiling gently. He let him in and went back into the kitchen.

"Yes of course. You know how much I love your cooking." Takeru smiled back, following her.

"Great! I'll just have to call the boys, they are in the forest, practicing." she was about to go outside when Takeru stopped her.

"Wait, let me do it. I would love to see if they have improved since the last time I watched them." he said and went outside.

-.-.-.-.-

The fight between Sasuke and Yasuo had meanwhile gathered pace. Sasuke had now taken the defensive part and managed to dodge almost every attack of his brother thanks to his special ability: When he focused very hard he could change the colour of his usually dark eyes into a crimson red. His iris was encircled by a black circle and there was a black spot on that circle. Sasuke didn't really know what these eyes were, they had sometimes appeared during training and since about two weeks he was able to activate them deliberately. All he knew was that they gave him a great advantage in battle. He could anticipate the enemy's movements, giving him the chance to at defend himself perfectly even against strong opponents. He was still very young, thus not very strong yet, so it seemed to be a very useful ability.

Yasuo threw some shuriken towards his younger brother who dodged them with ease. Only a split second later he appeared in front of Sasuke and attacked him with a kunai, but Sasuke, who of course had known what his brother had planned, countered with a kunai himself. They were now standing face to face (well rather face to crotch, since Sasuke was a lot smaller than his brother) and looked each other in the eye. Sasuke was using all his strength to keep his brothers kunai from coming closer to his face, but Yasuo wasn't giving it his all so that his brother had a chance to defend himself.

"Those eyes of yours sure are amazing. I'd like to know how you got them, I really wanna have a pair of those myself." Yasuo said grinning.

"I bet you do." Sasuke grinned back.

Suddenly a hard voice drew the brothers attention. "Your mother wants you to know that the dinner is ready!"

They turned their heads to see who had called them and Sasuke's face lit up. "Uncle Takeru!" he screamed and ran towards him. Yasuo followed him, also smiling.

When they reached him, Takeru was smiling as well. "I see you have gotten a lot better, Sasuke." he said, looking down at his nephew.

"That's because Nii-san always helps me with my practice!"

"Is that so?" Takeru said and his gaze moved over to the older brother. Yasuo suddenly had a strange feeling when his uncle looked at him, but he couldn't quite put a finger on it, so he shook it off, thinking that it must have been the adrenaline from the battle with Sasuke.

"So, should we go back then?" Takeru asked and the brothers nodded.

-.-.-.-.-

Miyoko smiled when she saw her three men returning to the house.

"The table is already laid, just sit down." she smiled when they entered.

Sasuke was running to the table laughing and sat down on the long side of the table. Yasuo followed him smiling at his brother's rapturous behavior. Takeru went over to Miyoko.

"I'm sorry. I know I said I would eat with you, but I forgot that I still had something to take care of. I have to go now." he said impassively.

Miyoko looked surprised. "A-alright then. I'll see you to the door."

"That won't be necessary." he smiled. "Bye kids!" he said and was gone just a second after.

"Was something wrong with him?" Sasuke asked.

"He probably just has a lot of work to do." Miyoko shrugged and took Sasuke's plate to put some rice and vegetables on it.

They ate in silence and after Sasuke and Yasuo had taken a bath they soon went to bed, as Yasuo would have to get up early the next day and Sasuke was exhausted from the long day.

-.-.-.-.-

So that was it for now. Please tell me what you think and if you'd like to read more.


	2. Chapter 2

In the middle of the night Sasuke was awoken by a loud roll of thunder. He startled and got out of his bed to look outside the window. It was raining heavily and every now and then a flash of lightning lit up the sky, closely followed by a threatening clap of thunder. Usually Sasuke was not afraid of thunderstorms, but for some reason it made him feel uneasy tonight.

Suddenly he heard some noise in the hallway. His door was opened and Yasuo rushed in, closing it slowly.

''Wha-?'' Sasuke wanted to ask, but was interrupted.

''Sssh, be quiet, Sasuke, there's someone in the house.''

Sasuke's eyes widened. ''What? But who?'' he asked confused.

''I don't know, but I'll go and see if Mum is alright. I want you to hide and not to come out until I come back and tell you it's safe.'' Yasuo said in a firm voice.

''O-okay...'' his brother's severity startled Sasuke but he agreed to do what he had been told.

Yasuo opened the door a crack and peered into the hallway. When he felt it was safe he sneaked outside and closed the door behind him. Sasuke hid under his bed and strained his ears, trying to understand what was going on. For what felt like an eternity it was completely silent, only every now and then a lightning would light up the room, followed by a clap of thunder.

Suddenly Sasuke heard the scream of his mother, closely followed by even more noise. He thought he had also heard his brother and some other familiar voices, but he didn't have enough time to think about it, as his door was pushed open and he saw 7 pair of feet entering his room, 2 of which belonged to his mother and brother. They were standing directly in front of someone else's feet, from which Sasuke concluded that they were held captive.

''Where is the boy?!'' someone screamed furiously. Sasuke felt like he knew the person the voice belonged to, but the furious tone didn't seem to fit, which made it hard for him to realize whose it was.

''What do you want from him? Why are you doing this?'' Sasuke heard his mother cry.

''Tell me where the boy is. Now.'' It was the same voice as before but still Sasuke couldn't recognize it.

''And when you've found him? What are you going to do to him?'' Yasuo asked.

''The only thing he deserves. The only thing all of you deserve for what you did to my brother!'' the voice suddenly yelled, followed by his brother's and his mother's scream and suddenly the bed bent over Sasuke's head. Obviously they must have been pushed on his bed and were now lying over him.

'Wait a moment. His...brother?' then Sasuke suddenly realized why this voice sounded so familiar. It belonged to no one else but his uncle! How could he not have recognized it before? It must have been because he had never seen his uncle mad before. But still... this didn't make any sense. Why would his uncle come to their house in the middle of the night and who were those other people?

''What do you mean by that? I never did anything to Tsuyoshi. I loved him!'' his mother's voice interrupted Sasuke's thoughts.

For a moment it was quiet, then a cold laugh made Sasuke jump. '' You loved him? YOU LOVED HIM?!'' Takeru screamed. ''That's probably why you cheated on him and gave birth to this little... bastard!'' he hissed, his teeth clenched tightly together.

''Wh-what are you talking about?'' Sasuke heard his brother ask.

''Oh your dear mother didn't tell you that this little brat is not your real brother? That she cheated on my brother and foisted some other man's child on him?'' Takeru asked sarcastically.

''Is it true what he's saying, Mum?''

''Yasuo, I...'' his mother's voice sounded helpless and desperate.

''It is true.'' Takeru interrupted her. ''Tsuyoshi told me himself. It was about 3 years ago when he came to me, completely drained, and told me how stupid and deceived he felt. When I asked him why he didn't want to tell me in what way though. But when I watched the boys fight earlier I saw it: Those eyes. The Sharingan.''

''Sharingan? Is that what those eyes of Sasuke's are called?'' Yasuo asked.

''Exactly. I didn't expect you to know about it. It's the Kekkei Genkai of the Uchiha-clan, a clan that lives in a village called Konoha Gakure. And since Sasuke has it, there is no way he could ever be Tsuyoshi's biological son. I feel so dumb, Tsuyoshi practically told me what you had done and I was just too stupid to put one and one together. I shouldn't have let him go on that mission, maybe he would still be alive then.''

''You don't mean...?'' Miyoko asked startled.

''Yes. It was the mission during which he died. And when I think of his behavior I can very well imagine that he lost voluntarily. It simply cannot be that a skilled and experienced shinobi like him would have died so easily.''

''No, no that can't be!'' Sasuke heard his mother break out in tears.

''It's all your fault!'' suddenly a different voice said. It must have been one of the people who had come with Takeru and Sasuke was pretty sure that it was one of the village's upper class shinobi.

The man's comment seemed to have encouraged the others as well. ''Yeah, we shouldn't have let you come to our village in the first place!'' one exclaimed, ''Bloody foreigners!'' another spat.

Miyoko continued to cry and Yasuo tried to comfort her, but wasn't very successful.

''You- you don't understand!'' She finally cried out. ''It was just... It was a hard time! We were fighting a lot and he was always gone on missions and then...'' her voice broke, but she gulped and continued.

''I met my early love, Yashiro Uchiha. We were in school together and we were in a relationship back then. I know it's not an excuse, but I was just so lonely and when I met him after all these years, I... It was a terrible mistake and I regretted it immediately the morning after. But I just couldn't bring myself to tell Tsuyoshi. Everything was going so well after that... incident that I didn't want to destroy our happiness. And when I realized that I was pregnant I convinced myself that it might as well be from Tsuyoshi, even though I knew that wasn't the case when Sasuke was born and I saw his dark hair and eye colour. How could he be our child if Tsuyoshi and Yasuo had brown hair and green eyes? But even though I knew that Sasuke wasn't his biological son I couldn't bring myself to tell Tsuyoshi. He was so happy that we had been blessed with a second child, that I decided I would just leave it at that and try to forget what had happened...'' her voice died away, but at least she had calmed down a bit.

"Mother..." Yasuo seemed speechless.

Sasuke's eyes widened. What did his mother just say? His father wasn't his real father? And it might be his fault that his father had died? He felt his eyes watering, but stayed completely silent so as not to give away his hide-out.

''Yasuo, I-''

''And you were stupid enough to actually believe that Tsuyoshi wouldn't notice?'' Takeru cut her of before she could even try to explain herself. "You tried to deceive him, to deceive all of us! But you will pay for what you did. And so will your little bastard."

"W-what do you mean by that?" Miyoko asked confused. "What are you going to do to him?"

"Like I told you: The only thing he deserves. He is the cause for my brother's dead, so he doesn't deserve to live on. We'll knock that brat's light out and avenge Tsuyoshi's death."

"No! Please don't hurt him! He is just a child! It's not his fault!" Sasuke heard his mother cry out.

Takeru's voice didn't reveal any emotion. "Oh don't worry. It's not like you would live long enough to watch him die. You should rather fear for your own well-being. Tsukasa! Masaki!"

"Yes, sir!" Two of the shinobi answered simultaneously. Sasuke saw them each draw a Kunai and approach the bed.

"Don't you dare touch my mother!" Yasuo yelled furiously and tried to attack the two men, but they were too strong. One of them caught Yasuo's arms and pinned them to his back, immobilizing him. Then the other kicked Yasuo, forcing him down on his knees. The next second Yasuo felt his hair being pulled back and something cold and sharp press against his throat.

"So tell me..." Takeru was slowly walking towards Yasuo and bowed down until his face was only inches away from Yasuo's. "...where is your brother?"

Sasuke heard his brother laugh dryly. "You are too late. I heard you and told him to run away. He should be far outside the village by now."

Takeru didn't show any emotion. "I know you're lying. I bet he is still somewhere in the house. But it doesn't matter." He grinned. "We'll get him either way." He straightened back up and nodded to the men who had pressed his kunai against Yasuo's throat.

His mother's bloodcurdling scream made Sasuke jump. When he saw something fall to the ground right in front of him he shut his eyes, because he was scared of what he might see. When he opened them again he had to cover his mouth with his hands, to keep himself from screaming. He looked directly into his brothers wide opened eyes. He was lying on the floor right in front of the bed, completely motionless. Blood was streaming out of his throat and a trickle of it was slowly flowing towards Sasuke. He tried to get away from it, but since he was too scared of making any noise he couldn't do anything. So now he was lying in a puddle of his brother's blood and heard his mother screams of desperation.

"How can you do this to us?! We are one family, you always cared for us! I thought you loved the boys!" Miyoko cried.

"Well then you thought wrong. I was only taking care of you because my brother had loved you and I considered it to be my duty to do so." Takeru walked towards the bed. "But Tsuyoshi died because of you, that cannot be forgiven."

"No, no please don't..." Sasuke heard his mother cry quietly. He was desperate. He wanted to stop his uncle, but he knew he wasn't strong enough to stop any of those men. Takeru was now standing right next to the bed. Sasuke started to shake heavily. He heard the sound of a kunai being drawn and all he could do was to shut his eyes and ears and hide his face in his arms. He felt the bed bend over him and pressed his hands even stronger on his ears. Tears were streaming down his face and mixed with the blood he was lying in.

Some seconds later, which felt like an eternity to Sasuke, he felt the weight being lifted from the bed and opened his eyes again.

The cold voice of his uncle broke the silence. "Now all we have to do is find the brat."

"But how are we going to do that, sir? And what are we going to do with the bodies?" one of the other men asked.

"I'm sure he is still somewhere in the house, so we'll fix both these problems at the same time." then he left the room, followed by the others.

-.-.-.-.-

So that was it for part 2 and kinda part 3 as well, because this one is quiet long, but I really didn't wanna split it into two parts :D


	3. Chapter 3

Sasuke was still lying under the bed and stared into space. His tears had run dry but he was still shaking uncontrollably. His head felt completely empty and he couldn't bring himself to move, so he just lay there not knowing what to do. He just wanted to stay under this bed forever so he would never have to face the cruel reality of what had just happened.

But suddenly he heard some strange crackling sound. He strained his ears and now he heard it clearly. There was something outside his door. And it was coming closer. The fear crept back into Sasuke's bones. He wanted to run away, but he was too scared of what he would see when he left his hide-out.

He could hear the noise was now directly in front of his door. He saw smoke entering the room from under the door. The next moment that door was gone as it was devoured by the flames, which had already spread throughout the hallway.

'So that was their plan.' Sasuke thought. 'They set the house on fire to get me out.' They had probably surrounded the house and were waiting for him to come out of the house in an attempt to escape the flames.

Just these flames had already reached his brother's body and started to devour it. Sasuke watched horrified as the body in front of him caught fire and the flames kept on crawling towards him. He finally snapped out of his paralysis, realizing that if he didn't go now it would be too late. His mother and brother had done everything to protect him, he couldn't just let himself get killed now or they would have died in vain.

Sasuke collected all his strength to overcome his fear and leave his shelter. He was scared to turn around, as he knew that his mother's body had to be on the bed, but he didn't have the heart to leave his mother just like that. He slowly turned his head and just when he faced the bed another lightning lit up the room. Sasuke instantly regretted having looked back when he laid eyes on his mother's dead body staring at him, the fear still reflecting in her eyes. Her whole upper body was covered in blood, a kunai was still stuck in her chest. Her cheeks were wet from the tears she had shed. But that wasn't all. Blood was running down her face, pouring out of her forehead. Sasuke's eyes began to water again as he read the words carved into his his mother's forehead: 'WHORE'

But he didn't have much time to digest what he just saw, as he felt the heat inside the room was becoming unbearable. He ran towards the window and tore it open. Then he hesitated for a moment. It was obvious that it was a trap, but what other options did he have? If he stayed here he would burn to death, that was for sure. If he left the house he had at least a small chance to escape. He jumped out of the window and looked around. The garden seemed to be safe for now. Their house was surrounded by high walls, so most of them were probably waiting for him at the entrance. He couldn't be sure that some of them weren't watching the walls as well though.

Sasuke stopped for a moment to think straight when it hit him: their secret passage! Yasuo and him had found it some weeks ago. It was basically just a hole in the wall, but that hole was one a place of the wall where their house walls and the walls of the neighbouring house intersected. Actually Sasuke had always assumed that the walls were made from one piece of solid concrete but at that time they discovered that it was actually two walls next to each other, with a small passage between them, just wide enough enough for Sasuke to walk through.

The young boy ran over to the entrance of the passage and quickly removed the planks they had put there to keep the secret passage just that, secret. He rushed in and sneaked along the path, trying not to make any noise. After some time he had finally reached the end. There was another hole in the wall, which couldn't be seen from outside, as a bush was growing just in front of it. Sasuke had always wondered if someone had build this passage on purpose. He just couldn't imagine that a wall would break in two such convenient places.

He silently slipped out of the wall and ran into a small forest, where he hid under an old tree to catch his breath and to find shelter from the pouring rain.

-.-.-.-.-

Itachi was walking along a path leading through the woods when he finally saw light break through the endless rows of trees.

'Finally!' Itachi thought relieved. 'At least I won't have to worry about someone hiding behind the trees any more.'

He had just finished a mission in the Land of Earth and all he wanted to do now was to go home and get some rest. The mission hadn't been too difficult, he just had to take down some crooks who were terrorizing the area, but it had been a long journey and he hadn't got enough sleep in days. Thinking about the past nights, a yawn escaped his mouth.

Suddenly he stopped. If his ears didn't deceive him he had heard some voices from afar. He strained his ears.

"There he is!", "We found him!" whoever these voices belonged to, they seemed to be angry.

'That doesn't sound good!' Itachi thought and hurried towards the end of the woods.

-.-.-.-.-

"There he is!", "We found him!" the voices made Sasuke jump. 'No, no, no, oh please no!' he thought desperately. How could they have found him that quickly?

He promptly stood up and ran further into the forest, but it was to late. He heard the men's voices from afar, but they were coming closer with every second. Suddenly he had reached the end of the forest and was now standing on a small platform. There was nowhere left to go as his path was cut off by an abyss at the end of the platform. He looked down and saw that it had to be at least 25ft to the ground, no way he would survive a jump from up here. He looked around. All he could see was the forest in front of him. No matter where he went he would only bump into his attackers.

Before Sasuke could come up with an escape plan he saw his uncle step out into the light, grinning at him maliciously. "We found you. Now be a good boy and come over here."

From sheer fear Sasuke took a step back. In that moment a stone broke off the abyss, causing Sasuke to lose his balance. All he could do was to close his eyes before he fell.


End file.
